


Proving a Hypothesis

by Titti



Category: Eureka
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-05
Updated: 2008-01-05
Packaged: 2017-12-15 22:05:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titti/pseuds/Titti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little experiment at GD makes people tell the truth and Jack and Nathan must deal with the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proving a Hypothesis

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Xmas_in_Eureka exchange.

Jack looked at his reflection in the mirror. His uniform looked perfect, wrinkle-free. He didn't look as good. He was tired, he hadn't slept all night long and he didn't know why. Sighing, he went down the stairs and found that Zoe was all ready there, eating breakfast.

She looked up and smirked. "And you think I shouldn't be up at night." When she remembered that he'd gone to bed even before she had, she frowned. "Are you all right?"

Jack picked up his cup of coffee, and prepared to give her a fatherly answer about how everything was all right and she shouldn't worry. What came out was, "I tossed and turned, and couldn't sleep. I'm starting to think that I need to get laid."

Zoe's eyes went wide as her father covered his mouth. "I so didn't hear that, Dad. I'm going to school."

"Do you want a ride?" Jack asked, trying not to focus on the fact that his face was a few shades of red.

"No, I'm fine," Zoe rushed to say as she walked out of the house. This was Eureka after all, someone was bound to drive by and take her to school.

* * *

Jack ran the steps inside Global Dynamics. He could see Allison speaking with Nathan through the glass window. He made his way upstairs, stopping as he stepped inside, standing with his hands on his hips. "Is everything all right?"

"Is there a reason why it shouldn't be?" Nathan asked, because it might not be polite to answer a question with a question, but it was the sign of a great scientist.

"No… no reason," Jack answered, not very convincingly. "So-" He scratched his head. "Neither of you has any urges to say the truth? Allison."

She shook her head. "No, nothing of the sort." She frowned. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Jack sighed. "I don't know. It's like I can't stop from saying everything I think." He tossed his hands in the air. "See what I mean? I didn't want to say all that. Are you sure you aren't having the same problem? Let's see who do you want to sleep with me or _him_."

She bit her lip so she wouldn't start laughing in his face, and shook her head again. "It's none of your business and no I'm not having any problems." She turned her head. "Nathan, do you want to help us?"

"No, not really," he said, uncharacteristically not commenting on anything Jack was saying.

Jack cocked his head, before taking a few steps forward. Nathan was always going on and on about his ability to solve things, quite often in terms that Jack didn't understand. There was no reason for him to shut up, unless... "You're having the same problem, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am, damn it, would you go away now?" Nathan snapped back.

Jack laughed. "No, I get to torment you; that's worth the trip here. Why do you want me to go?"

"Because you ask the most insane questions and then I'll say something I don't want to," Nathan answered before covering his mouth with his hand. "This is getting worse," he mumbled. "It's all your fault. I'm sure you're having fun. Are you having a ball?"

Jack shook his head. "Of course not. I hate hurting people." He bit his lip, before turning to Allison. "This _is_ getting worse. Are you sure you're not having this problem?

Allison shook her head. "I would have noticed, Jack. You said that Zoe didn't either, right?"

"It must be affecting men only," Nathan said, cutting any answer off.

"Isn't that a little rush?" Allison asked. "We only have four people, and that's hardly enough for a statistic."

"It's not. It makes perfect sense, and I'm the genius, here, so why don't you go deal with your paper work and I can do the real work?" Nathan stopped and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"No, you did mean it, Nathan," she said, trying to maintain her control and dignity. "I don't understand, if this is how you feel, why are you trying to convince me that you want us to be together again?"

"Because I'm hoping that it'll make my feelings for Carter go away." The quiet words froze everyone in the room. There wasn't a sound other than their breathing. Jack was the first to recover.

"Maybe you can get someone to check into this," he told Allison. "If he's right, it's probably best if women handle this. We don't know how else we're affected, and even if this is the only way, putting so many people who can't lie together is going to make me and Jo work overtime."

She shook her head. "Of course." She glanced back to Nathan, and then back to Jack. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything. If you'll excuse me-" She walked out, back straight, sending enough 'stay away' vibes to ensure that no one would stop her on the way to the science lab.

"Carter, I should explain-"

Jack put his hands in his pockets, weight solidly resting on both feet, as he stared straight at the other man. "You should say nothing. As much as I thought this was going to be fun, I changed my mind. Find me after we solve this problem, and then you can explain. Until then, I have a feeling I'll be busy stopping people from killing each other. See you later."

Nathan nodded. "Goodbye, Carter." He watched Jack go before going back to his project, although he knew that he wouldn't get any real work done until this mess was finally over.

* * *

Four days and thirty-three domestic disputes later, Jack finally got home knowing that the latest crisis had passed. Allison and Dr. Sloan had explained about electric waves stimulating different parts of the brain, and how an experiment they were conducting had failed affecting only men for some strange and well documented reason, but Jack had tuned them out the moment they said that it was over and the experiment had been shut down. Being less than a genius was good at times, because he was sure that they would spend days talking about this, while he wanted nothing more than to sit in front of his TV with a beer and then going to bed and sleep for twelve hours straight.

He was on his way to do just that when the ring at the door made him growl. Jo would have called, and everyone else could wait. "S.A.R.A.H., tell whoever it is that I'm not here," he ordered, sitting down on the couch.

S.A.R.A.H. relayed the message, but within moments Nathan's voice rang clear in the house. "I know you're there, Carter. Your car is here and even someone without my IQ would know that it's a lie."

"God-" Jack rolled his eyes. " S.A.R.A.H. let him in before he recites the entire Encyclopedia, backwards to prove that he's smarter than us."

Nathan walked in while Jack was still talking, and stopped by the side of the couch "I know communication with the average citizen of Eureka is not easy for you, but talking to a house? Pathetic."

"Says the man who came all the way here to talk to me," Jack replied, not really feeling up to another argument. "Could you just leave me alone? Just for a day. Really, sleep good. Talk no good. I'm sorry if I can't come up with a brainy answer," he answered with a fake smile.

Nathan chuckled. "Touché." He looked around for a moment, and then sat on the armchair. "So…"

"So… you aren't leaving yet," Jack observed. "What do you want?"

"I wanted- needed to explain," he started.

Jack shook his head. "No, you really don't have to." He got up and went to the kitchen. He picked up another bottle of beer, opened it, and then walked back to the living room. He handed the beer to Nathan. "You couldn't stop yourself. We- We'll pretend that it never happened. It's fine."

Nathan leaned forward, the bottle rotating between his spread legs. "Easier said than done. Allison informed me that while we are scientists, we can't always explain everything, but we're smart enough that some things exist even though we don't understand them, and the only way to comprehend certain phenomena is to study them, and I can't do so, while I close my eyes to possibilities and hold on to safe theories." He looked up, and waited for a reply.

Jack stared back, starting to answer, and then blinked. "Uh?"

"She broke up with me, Carter," Nathan answered with a sigh.

"Why couldn't you jus say that?" Jack said, not hiding his annoyance. "Not everything has to be a riddle."

"You did get the part where she thinks I'm supposed to study this, right? She means that we, you- me- whatever." He took a swig of the beer, deciding that maybe Carter wasn't as stupid as he looked. Getting drunk sounded like a good idea, although he'd have to get home to do so. He'd made enough of an ass of himself all right. 

"You can't even say it," Jack said with a shake of his head. 

"It's not like I do this every day," he said annoyed. "It's not like I've ever been with a man," he said in a softer voice.

"You know that whatever made us tell the truth has been shut down. You don't have to tell the truth," Jack pointed out.

"I know, you idiot. This was in the interest of intellectual honesty. It's the only way to prove a hypothesis. If you accept false-"

"Enough!." Jack stood up, and paced in the living room. "This isn't about theories and hypothesis. This is about- apparently about you wanting me, and boy, I didn't see that coming. It's not even the gay thing, because I lived in California long enough to experiment before joining the US Marshalls, but it's the you thing. You don't like me. You don't respect me, and you don't think I'm smart enough to even be in the same room with me. If that weren't enough, you can't even admit that you're thinking about- sex, relationship, God knows what you're thinking." He stopped and turned to stare at the other man. "Why? Why do you feel like that when you go out of your way to tell everyone how inadequate I am?"

"I tell them, because I don't know how else to deal. I'm Nathan Stark. I'm married, was… I don't… I'm not interested in men, and if I were their IQ would rival mine." He shook his head. "I'm not making sense."

Jack smiled. "If you think relationships ever make sense, then you're really clueless."

"Why are you so calm?" Nathan asked. "Shouldn't you be a little more-"

"Freaked out?" Jack said helpful. "Stark- Nathan, you still haven't answered."

Nathan stood up, and turned so he wouldn't have to look at the other man. "I don't know… or I didn't. When it started, it was after another crisis, and I thought I must have been tired, too much time by myself, but then I started to pay attention. You are the less intelligent man in this town-"

"Gee, thanks, you sure know how to woo a person," Jack said sarcastically.

Nathan turned around, shaking his head. "No, it's not an insult. If you look at IQ, you have the lowest, and yet, you manage to come up with the solution again and again and again. It shouldn't happen, do you understand? And yet, you manage to save the day _and_ have the respect of everyone around you. I still couldn't figure out why I was attracted to you, and then, remember that pollen in the air filter, the one that made you lose your inhibitions?"

Jack nodded and then frowned. "That was two years ago."

"I work in a secret town, creating secret projects. I know how to keep quiet," Nathan said with a smile. "But yes, that when I knew, so I redirected my attention to the artifact, and I assure my feelings for it were slightly stronger."

Jack snorted. "I don't doubt it for a moment."

"Still, it was a- a shock. One moment I was thinking science, and the next I was wondering how it would feel to kiss you." Nathan closed his eyes. "I really shouldn't be telling you all of this."

Jack stepped closer until they were standing face to face. "You're right, you shouldn't, because words will never tell you." He reached out, fingers curling around Nathan's nape and pulled him into a kiss. It was chaste and short, and when he pulled back, Nathan didn't say a word, but kept staring. Jack took that as encouragement and pressed their lips together again, deepening the kiss this time, delving inside Nathan's mouth when he gasped. He took his time, but pull back when he felt Nathan tense against him.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

"Because?" Jack tried.

"That works when you're seven," Nathan bit off. "Why?"

"Because we argue and yet we can't stay away even when we aren't working, because I respect you even if you are a pain in he ass, because maybe it's not one-sided. I can go on and on, but the answer is because. You can't explain these things," Jack said calmly, but he saw the lack of belief. "Fine, explain to me why you were with Allison."

"I believed we covered this," Nathan said with an amused smile.

"No, I meant the first time," Jack said with a roll of his eyes.

"Because she's smart and intelligent and we made a great couple. I mean we could have gotten any job we wanted, but married? No one would say no to us," he answered.

Jack shook his head. "You're hopeless. You can't treat attraction like a business proposition."

"I can. I have. You-" Nathan threw his hands in the hair, before leaning in for another kiss, and this time, he didn't want to let go. He grabbed the front of Jack's uniform, pulling their bodies closer. They stayed like this for a few long minutes, and then he tensed again when he felt a cock digging in his hips. "I can't-" he said breathless.

"It's all right. Theories take long to prove," Jack answered.

"Hypotheses need to be proven," Nathan said chuckling.

"That's all right, we can take time to prove those, too." Jack gave him a peck on the corner of his mouth and pulled back. "I'll see you later, then."

Nathan nodded. "Yes, I'll leave you alone with your beer." He walked to the door, but stopped when he heard Jack call his name. "What?"

"We have our baseball team now. We're playing tomorrow afternoon. You should come and watch us. We can go to dinner afterward," Jack told him casually, but they both knew that it was more. It was Nathan's chance to put a stop to whatever this was.

"Dinner? Proving it slowly," Nathan said, before nodding. "I'll be there.?

Jack nodded smiling as he watched Nathan go. He sat down in front of his TV with his beer, and finally he decided that he still needed to sleep for twelve hours straight, but suddenly life wasn't so bad. He could do slow and he'd prove Nathan that this would work.


End file.
